“If you would have told me two or three months ago that we’d have to invent a new program model and implement it in a week’s worth of time, I would have said you were crazy,” said Volunteers in Action Program Coordinator Britta Willson March 25.
But that’s exactly what she’s had to do.
VIA, a program of Providence Hood River Memorial Hospital that serves seniors, veterans, those living below the Federal Poverty Limit and those who are isolated and vulnerable, has been modified due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I’m feeling like this is going to be long-term, considering how things are going,” she said. “Right now, we’re doing a pilot program — I just came up with the model last week and we’re implementing it this week, to troubleshoot and see how things go.”
All in-person visits with clients have been canceled, as has transportation. Instead, volunteers are checking in with clients via weekly phone calls and grocery runs.
She has partnered with The Next Door, Inc., and is running the program in a fashion similar to NDI. As a way to avoid contact, volunteers purchase groceries on account; clients will get invoiced for the expenses at a later time.
Volunteers then leave the groceries at the client’s front door. As of now, there hasn’t been much of a demand for grocery visits, but Willson sees that changing as client’s’ supplies of food begin to deplete.
Her next task: Working out details needed for prescription pick up.
“The next big thing will be prescriptions because starting next month, people will need prescriptions refilled,” she said.
Willson said that, as she began looking at changes to the program, she thought it would simply serve existing VIA clients.
“I thought it would be a huge, overwhelming need from our own people,” she said. But she’s been able to expand the service to include home health and hospice patients and, thanks to an increase in volunteers, is looking to further open the service to anyone who is over the age of 60 or has some kind of condition that makes going out into public dangerous.
“I am getting a lot of interested new volunteers because people are on furlough or are unemployed and are looking for some way to feel useful to the community,” Willson said. “As long as I continue to get more volunteers, we can serve more and more people this way.”
However, the service can only be provided based on the number of volunteers, so “if we max that out, we’ll implement a waitlist,” she added.
The volunteer onboard process has been streamlined: Because volunteers are not meeting face-to-face with clients, only basic contact information and a background check are required. There is also an orientation with Willson on the first grocery trip to show how the process works.
The client application has also been simplified.
“This is the best way I can think of to respond to the needs right now — people getting some socialization over the phone and food,” she said.
For more information on how to volunteer or to register as a client, contact Willson at 541-387-6404 or Brittany.willson@providence.org.
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